


By Any Other Name

by CrazyT



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Having fun with a theory, Multi, Slight Blumentrio references, Smatterings of bad German
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:01:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26404645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrazyT/pseuds/CrazyT
Summary: There are truths and there are truths, though. A little goes a long way after all, he learned that from his parents. He learned that from his teacher.Before the asylum and darkness and confusion, the last name he had had been Bren Aldric Ermendrud.
Relationships: Astrid & Eadwulf & Caleb Widogast, The Mighty Nein & Caleb Widogast
Kudos: 26





	By Any Other Name

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is a try at a theory that intrigued me...
> 
> Heads up though, no beta for this. I die like Vokodo: scared, alone, and with no dignity.

“My mother’s name was Una.” Caleb sets the scene, flanked by two who he has killed for. “My father’s name was Leofric.” He wants knowledge. He wants the books that Beauregard can give him access to and, even in this short time, he knows she will only be satisfied with the truth. There are truths and there are truths, though. A little goes a long way after all, he learned that from his parents. He learned that from his teacher.

_Blumenthal is a quite large farming community, there are many families and many more children at the schools there. Una and Leofric’s red-headed mischievous little boy who liked cats might have seen a little brown-haired girl and tall boy here or there, or he might not have. They don’t meet until the Academy though, once the idea that they are special, different from the other girls and boys still in Blumenthal, different from their families left behind, has settled in. It’s easy to flock to the similar in an unknown world. Easy to make a little group go a long way to filling the void of family left behind._

“My name was,” he says in a cart, surrounded by people he would die for, “Bren Aldric Ermendrud.” _Veth_ deserves, they all deserve, the truth, and it is the truth. It had been his name…Before. Before the asylum and darkness and confusion, the last name he had had been Bren Aldric Ermendrud. 

_They are sitting on his bed when he returns, flushed with pride and excitement. “Was ist es? What happened…” but he cuts them off. “I am Bren now. Master has decided we are ready for the next step and from now on, I will be Bren.” “Just Bren?” “Do we get Rang as well?” “Nein, no, not just Bren, and ja, you also get Rang, but I will choose them. Unsere Familie, unsere Namen.” “Will we be named after our best spells, then, like you?” “Nein, you will be Eadwulf, for you are the wolf that will bring good fortune to the sheep. And you will be Astrid, for your strength.” “Not for my divinity?” And the moment dissolves into laughter and jokes and mentions of puns. “Divine for divination is barely a pun,_ **_Bren_ ** _.” It dissolves even further into roughhousing and then into other things. They are young and full of victory after all._

“My parents are Una and Leofric,” he confirms as a ritual, bracketed by a family who he wants to live for, “and my name is Caleb Widogast, sometimes.” Caleb was no carefully selected name, given to him with love, given to him as a title with acknowledgment and status. It was chosen at random, as so many of his names After had been. Widogast, also chosen randomly, though even in a jail and as a throwaway to a goblin that might eat him, the boy who had been known as Bren liked his puns. Caleb Widogast was a garbage name for a garbage man, but he hadn’t anticipated that one man’s garbage is another’s treasure. A little goes a long way after all. So, he has a name and a family like Before, but more like **Before**. **Before the Academy** , when he had also had a name and a family, parents, that he loved, that he still loves. And he will do anything, will do everything, a lot, a little, to make sure that this name, that this family, does not go the way of the others. Aller guten Dinge sind drei.

_“We can’t just have one name, though,” Eadwulf states once their celebrations had lost their fervor and they were resting on the bed, “Who has one name? You’d be as well known as a colorful dog.” The boy who is now Bren turns to look at his friends, at his family, and says, “I want to use your new initials in my new name, A and E. I chose your names. Choose mine.” There is a pause, while they consider, then “Ermendrud,” declares Astrid, “instead of divine strength, no matter what you say it is still a bad pun, whole strength cause you will lead us in saving the whole empire.” Eadwulf takes longer, the pause growing and growing until finally he states, “Aldric.” “Old ruler?” “You are the oldest and the leader,” Eadwulf defends, “and some say it means wise instead. Also,” he adds sheepishly, “it sounds like home.” “I like it,” Astrid agrees abruptly. “Nice to meet you, Bren Aldric Ermendrud.”_

**Author's Note:**

> A thank you and a shoutout to the Widojest Love server. Your theories invaded my brain, you lovely folks!
> 
> Especially to vanni...enjoy the BAE (sorry it's so small)...and congratulations, I've been converted.


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